


the weekend

by sydneybbristow



Category: SKAM Austin
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:54:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22120606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sydneybbristow/pseuds/sydneybbristow
Summary: Grace goes to the beach house.
Relationships: Grace Olsen/Daniel Williamson
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was always curious about what would have happened if they had gone to Pen-Jo's beach house as planned.

Port A was kind of far. Almost four hours by car, actually. She had casually tried to make this point but it looked like it fell to deaf ears. Several hours trapped in a car with four other people that may be her friends but also would include Kelsey Russell – if that were somebody’s idea of an amazing road trip and an opportunity to talk about the dance team, it certainly wasn’t Grace’s. It was not like she was opposed to spending time with Kelsey per se. It was the knowing what Kelsey would want to talk about the entire trip (well, not just that, but she was counting on Zoya to interfere in case she tried to hog the aux-chord too) that made the idea of sitting beside her for hours with no chance of leaving unbearable. Grace did not need to hear another word about how Kelsey desperately needed to spend “quality time” with Daniel who, she kept reminding herself, was not Kelsey’s boyfriend and never had been anything other than a one-night-stand. She wished Kelsey would have the good sense to keep that in mind too. In any case, she did not dislike Kelsey. It was because she liked her that she had tried to prevent this spring break road trip from even happening, but she could not tell her that, because that would make Kelsey dislike _her_.

She knew all too well that Daniel was not interested in Kelsey at all, apart from the opportunity she offered to get Grace’s attention. She had known this for almost a year now, yet never letting anyone else (Megan being the exception) in on this secret. She figured there was no need – it was not like anything would ever happen between her and Daniel anyway, and before they knew it, he would be graduating high school and she would never risk running into him again. Yes, she had to admit, the flirting was fun. He was cute. She enjoyed bickering with him and he had actually managed to make her laugh once or twice. He looked good shirtless, she had to admit that too. She had to assume that spring break would include a certain amount of him being shirtless, so that was actually a valid point. But that was all there was and there would be no going on dates, even if she had made him believe that she seriously would do it once. It had been so easy. As soon as she realized that she could use his inconvenient affection for her to make Kelsey feel better, she had gone to him with the offer.

“Seriously?” His whole face had lit up.

“Just once, and no one can know about it.”

Of course, when the time had come to hold up her part of the deal, she had the handy excuse of being in Dallas all summer ready. She had fully expected him to have lost interest in her and forgotten the date by September, but no luck. He had found her on the very first day of the term, in the same moment that she learned that they had one class together this term. She had panicked and “I have a boyfriend now, sorry” escaped her lips before she had the chance to think about it. Every now and then she saw real emotions in him. This had been one of those times. She was now not only lying, slash, keeping the truth from one person, but two. It didn’t feel ethical, but what was she supposed to do? She would just have to pretend to be in a devoted relationship from now on.

“Guess we’re hanging out”. It annoyed her to no end that he had won this round in their little game. Megan had, even though no one asked, offered to be her Daniel-blocker for the weekend. As if him hitting on her had ever been the primary issue. What she needed was a Kelsey-blocker. How the hell was she supposed to hide everything from her, when she would undoubtedly be spending all of her waking time hanging around Daniel? She still had time to just tell her the truth, but she wouldn’t. She was backed into a corner now and resented that she didn’t have more time to figure out what to say to her. A voice in the back of her mind told her that she had all these months to figure it out, and yet she had chosen not to. So now she had with great hesitation agreed to spend the weekend sitting in a car for hours just to arrive at the Diaz family beach house where they would no doubt be greeted by a bunch of football players she had no interest in hanging out with and their respective girlfriends she had no interest in knowing. She could only hope that Abby being on good terms with Megan and Kelsey now being a Kitten would ease the tensions between ex-rivalling, now not sure if they even were one, dance teams a little. Grace had stopped going to the football games and the parties last fall when she had started on the paper, coincidentally when the quarterback was injured and hospitalized, so she really did not know what to expect. Jo avoided conflicts in general and got along with just about anyone. She knew there was no love lost between Zoya and the Kittens, but Grace expected her to at least not throw salsa on any of them this time.

So now here she was, crammed in a car with her friends singing along to Old Town Road (Zoya had betrayed her, claiming that this was “a bop”), all on their merry way to spend the weekend at the Diaz beach house. They had spent absolutely no time talking about the dance team. Daniel had been asking for updates on when they would arrive, and when she refused to text him back, Kelsey had giddily answered him instead. Grace knew she should feel sorry for her, but she was just annoyed at this point. _He doesn’t like you like that. This is not about you._ Finally, at a gas station where they’d stopped for their last bathroom break and to stock up on snacks and alcohol (Jo and Megan had both managed to get their hands on fake IDs), she decided to send Daniel a plea.

“Please just don’t talk to me when we get there”. Send. A minute passed.

“yea cause that wont be weird at all”

She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean”.

“I wont hit on u in front of everyone, promise”

She breathed out a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure what a promise from him meant yet, but she chose to take it as a good sign that he was obliging. Now it was just a matter of him not hitting on her in private, and dealing with him when they were alone was something she could handle. Not that she would ever be with him alone. In any case, the situation had been deterred, for now. She got back in the car.  
  


Okay, so the beach house was pretty cool. She could admit that. There were worse places to spend the weekend at, sure. When they pulled up, Jordan and Hunter had greeted them at the door, helping them with their bags. Kelsey looked frantically around as if she was searching for something.

“Where’s Daniel?” _You just got here two seconds ago, calm down_. Jordan lifted her impressive load of baggage up the stairs.

“He should be back soon, we sent him to get groceries”. Hearing that made Grace snort. As if he would know his way around a grocery store or even what to get. He had probably never done anything remotely domestic by himself in his life. She noticed that Megan shot her a suggestive look when they entered the house and made their way to the kitchen.

“Did you tell him to get pop tarts?” Hunter asked. Jordan shook his head.

“I thought you did.” Hunter waved his hand in a “what the fuck” motion. “What? You’re the only one who eats that shit."

“So is it just gonna be us here or do you have any other friends?” Zoya interrupted. Kelsey’s eyes widened at her blunt expression. Hunter just laughed.

“Abby and Peyton are at the pool”, pointing vaguely in direction of the backyard. “The other girls had to leave already.” He looked back at Zoya, smiling. “It was cool that you came though.” She smirked back at him, neither of them breaking eye contact for a moment. Grace caught Jo’s eye, looking as confused as she felt. Yeah, this was weird.

Then Daniel walked into the kitchen carrying a large paper bag of groceries, breaking the moment as he placed the bag on the counter. “I got your damn pop tarts”, he said to Hunter. Then he scanned the room and their guests, his gaze briefly passing Grace but not meeting hers. “You came. Hi.”

Kelsey was beaming. “Hi!”

Grace noticed Megan observing her in the corner of her eye, apparently wondering if it was time to launch her Daniel-blocking mission. She ignored her and wished she would look at someone else. She studied Daniel while he was busy politely chatting with Kelsey. Maybe it wouldn’t be too difficult, spending the weekend here with him. She could act normal with him for a weekend, and normal meant tolerating him and possibly responding with a snarky comment if he ever addressed her directly. There was nothing going on between them, she could act normal. Fuck, he looked good. His wavy brown hair was almost golden in the sunlight and the white t-shirt he was wearing revealed the fresh tan on his arms. Fuck, his arms looked good. She felt her heart pounding faster when his eyes suddenly met hers and she quickly looked away.

_Well, shit._


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grad school has been kicking my ass, that’s my excuse. And Jesus fuck, coming up with your own plots is difficult. Sincerely thanks to everyone who’s read anything I’ve written.

Settling into their home for the weekend, the girls were now gathered in the one of the bedrooms on the second floor that Kelsey and Jo had immediately claimed as theirs. Jo was painting her nails on the king-size bed while Kelsey was trying out outfits she pulled out from her weekend bag. So far, everything had gone surprisingly well since they arrived at the Diaz vacation home, much to Grace’s relief. Jordan and Hunter had been less annoying than she had expected. A little dumb, definitely, but not as much of the football guy stereotype she had imagined them all to be. Jordan was very light-hearted and fun. Maybe not the kind of person she would pick to be friends with, but she could at least stand him. Hunter was a little quieter, so she did not have much of an opinion on him other than that Zoya seemed to get along with him, and she trusted Zoya’s judgement. She wasn’t sure where she was standing with Abby and Peyton, but she figured they wouldn’t cause her any headaches. She didn’t want to think about Daniel, but he was there, in fact he was the one who insisted they come in the first place. That _she_ would come. It was what it was. Grace was going to continue letting Kelsey believe whatever she told herself about him and not tell her the truth about what she knew his true intentions were. Come to think of it, she couldn’t _actually_ be sure that he liked Grace at all. Maybe he was just messing with her? A potential conflict with Kelsey wouldn’t be worth it, especially if it was all just a game to him, she reasoned. She could only hope that Daniel at least wouldn’t say or do anything to encourage Kelsey. This night would be the first test. They had all decided to get something to eat after the girls had settled in and unpacked. This is where they were now. Dressing for dinner on the patio was a task that required much attention and input from four girlfriends. She was now spinning around in a bright green sundress.

“Okay, do you think I should go with this or just wear the pink one?”

“Seriously, how many options do you have in there?” Megan asked.

“Can you just pick one so we can go?” Zoya asked from the armchair she was sitting in, not even looking up from her phone. Kelsey shot her a pleading look. This was a matter of life and death. God, this was going to be a long weekend.

“Just wear that one, it looks great on you”, Megan said.

“It’s not like he’s gonna fall in love with you if you just wear the right dress.” Zoya was still looking at her phone. “What?” she continued, finally looking up when the room fell silent. Jo broke the silence.

“Hey, what do you think Hunter likes?” she asked Zoya, suggestively. Zoya and Hunter had the kind of banter going on that would definitely border on flirting if it wasn’t for the tiny detail that he had a girlfriend who was also staying in the same house. A white football player from Texas having anything in common with a black Muslim girl who wore a hijab wasn’t exactly something that Grace would have predicted, but hey, people were full of surprises.

“He can like whatever the fuck he wants, I don’t care.” Zoya sounded indifferent, but Grace could see she was holding back a grin. Megan joined in.

“We all saw you earlier, there’s something going on”. This was surprise to Grace. She had never considered Megan that observant. Zoya was quiet for a few seconds.

“Nothing’s going on. And Hunter is with Abby.” She turned to Kelsey, smiling. “And you look gorgeous. Can we go now?”

When they finally made their way downstairs, they ran into Daniel, rolling up the sleeves of his light blue button-down shirt as he turned to wait for them. He opened the door leading to the backyard. “Ladies.”

Kelsey giggled, nudging Grace playfully with her elbow. Yes, he has that southern gentleman thing down, who cares. Grace didn’t even look at him when they passed him on the way out. He smelled freshly showered. She had opted for a simple deep blue dress that had short sleeves and a modest neckline but still clung to her hips in a way that she suddenly was self-conscious about. Walking behind the rest of the group, she could feel Daniel’s eyes on her. She still hadn’t said a word to him. Something made her turn around as she walked, if nothing else than to catch him looking at her ass. _Ha._ She could tell that he was trying not to laugh when she met his eyes and he gave her that “fucking sue me” grin, shaking his head. She couldn’t help but smile back. It was on.

Peyton and Jordan were standing at the grill when they came out. Peyton was somebody who Grace never had exchanged one word with, but she had decided to keep an open mind and toss out her prejudice against Kittens for this time. She did look like she knew what she was doing, swatting Jordan’s hand away when he reached for the pliers.

“I’m doing that”, she said to him. “You go make the table or something.” Her curly blonde ponytail swayed when she turned to Grace and smiled at her when she saw her. “Could you get a plate for these vegetables?”

“Sure”, Grace answered and grabbed a plate from the table next to her. She waited for Peyton to carefully grab some corn and zucchini one by one and put them on the plate. She looked up at Grace, smiling.

“What’s your lipstick?”

“Uhm”, she hesitated, still slightly suspicious. “MAC, ‘On Hold’.”

“It suits you. Very sexy.” Peyton’s attention had returned to the grill. Grace, not knowing how to respond to the last part, saw that as an opportunity to leave. She went up to her friends, who were now standing around a bowl of sangria. Zoya was the only one holding a sparkling glass of what she assumed was soda.

“Okay, I’m getting nervous”, Kelsey said. “What if something happens tonight?”

Grace joined in the conversation. “What do you mean?”

“With Daniel..?”

Grace resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “I thought you were past that”, she said, silently praying that she could talk some sense into her.

“I know, but he did invite me here”, Kelsey insisted. Grace looked at Megan, pleadingly, who got the hint.

“Didn’t you say he specifically invited all of us?”

“Here, have some pineapple”, Jo shoved a plate in her face. “It’s like, really good for your juice.” This made Megan and Zoya let out a loud laugh in unison.

“My what?”

“You know. When a guy eats a lot of pineapple, his stuff will taste sweeter. It’s the same for girls.” She said this as a matter of fact, like it was something everyone knew.

“EWWW-“ Kelsey shut her eyes and covered her ears. “I don’t need to hear this!” Grace laughed, for the first time since they came here feeling relaxed and like she was in good company. It was a feeling that did not go away when she met Daniel’s eyes a couple of feet away from them.

A short while after, they were finally seated. Grace hadn’t realized until then how hungry she was after a long day on the road. She had to hand it to Peyton and her barbeque skills; the black bean burger she was currently working on was delicious. The conversations were going well, there had been no unbearable awkwardness between Abby and the others. She had caught Daniel looking at her a couple of times, sitting diagonally across from her, but he hadn’t exactly gone out of his way to talk to her. Until now, apparently. The next time he made eye contact, he didn’t look away but gestured to the fruit that was out of her reach.

“Do you want some pineapple, Gra-?”

“I’m good, Donald”, she said way, way too quickly, praying that it had been an innocent offer and that he hadn’t overheard them earlier. She felt her cheeks flush and was careful not to meet the eyes of any of her friends.

“What do your parents do, Jo?” Megan asked without sounding the slightest bit curious. Grace silently thanked her for the intervention. Josefina replied, confused. “You know wha…”

“The other Jo, the one whose parents own this house.”

“Mom’s in real estate. My dad is a defense attorney”, the other Jo answered. Not like, the kind who represents murderers or anything-”

“The kind who gets rich kids out of trouble?” Zoya interrupted. Hunter shrugged next to her.

“I mean, he got me out of trouble once.”

Abby almost spit out her drink. “What?”

“In his defense”, Jordan said diplomatically, raising his glass as if to make a toast. “Streaking should be allowed when you’ve just won a game.”

“What, on the field?” Abby was almost hysterical now, and Jordan put a hand on her arm.

“No, no, no, sweetie, afterwards. Afterwards.”

Daniel shook his head. “You’re both idiots.”

Grace, Kelsey, Megan and Zoya were the first ones to call it a night. Both of the Jos were still up and looked like they were involved in a very deep discussion on opposite sides of a couch. Grace spotted Kelsey talking to Daniel in the kitchen, and dragged her feet when the others started making their way upstairs. “I’ll be up in a second”, she said, looking back just as Daniel gave Kelsey a hug. _What the hell?_ Seconds later, Kelsey caught up with her, beaming.

“I’m just gonna grab my water”, Grace said quickly, and Kelsey flew up the stairs. Grace stomped back into the kitchen.

“What”, Grace said in a hushed whisper. “are you doing?”

Daniel looked up. “Making toast, you want some?”

“Stop leading her on”.

“I’m not leading her on”, he said, and continued when she kept staring at him without saying anything. “What am I supposed to do, just not talk to her?”

“Insisting that she comes and spends the weekend with you certainly doesn’t help!”

“I invited all of you, thought I’d be fun”, he said with a shrug.

His nonchalance made Grace see red. “Please, you dragged us all out here just because I wouldn’t go out with you! That’s really messed up.” He sighed.

“You’re right. It’s messed up. But”, he added, “so is lying about having a boyfriend because you didn’t want to do your part of the deal _you_ came up with.”

She could not argue with that. It was true, she had never intended to go through with anything, she had just wanted him to do what she asked him to.

“I didn’t plan on lying”, she said, truthfully. “Anyway. I’m here now.”

“You’re here now”, he repeated. They made eye contact for what felt like a minute. She had never noticed his freckles before. She noticed that clean scent again and the room felt suddenly warmer.

The pop of the toaster made them both jump. Laughing nervously, she watched Daniel fumble with the bread.

“Well”, she said, clearing her throat. “Good night, Donald.” He smiled softly at her, like there was a hidden meaning in her words there that only he understood.

“Good night, Grace.”


End file.
